Cold Chisel divided over its future ahead of NZ shows

Australian rock band Cold Chisel brought down the curtain on their wildly successful 50th-anniversary tour last week, but one lingering question remains unanswered ahead of their upcoming New Zealand shows.

There was one big question on every fan’s mind after Cold Chisel brought down the curtain on their wildly successful 50th-anniversary tour last week: will they keep going?

The band members appear to be divided on the future of the Australian rock institution.

Frontman Jimmy Barnes and guitarist Ian Moss are determined to keep going with Chisel until they’re 80; but pianist, keyboardist, and songwriter Don Walker fears old war wounds could be reopened if they became a “full-time band” again.

Speaking on the new LiSTNR podcast Cold Chisel, Walker shared how the bandmates, including bassist Phil Small and drummer Charley Drayton, were “careful of each other” to keep the show on the road over the past two months.

“These days we’re very careful of each other, to the best of our capacity,” Walker said. “With each of us, our top skill is not social.

“No, no, I don’t think we could be a full-time band again. No, that wouldn’t go well at all.”

They would be mad to pull the pin on their occasional reunions after selling more than 225,000 tickets for the 23 concerts on the Big Five-O victory lap.

It was the biggest tour by an Australian artist this year, with three shows in New Zealand in January to complete before Chisel contemplates any future moves.

Barnes, who said recently he was working on a new solo album for 2025, believes there’s plenty left in the tank for new music and more shows down the track.

As long as they can all do it, he wants to be singing with his beloved bandmates until “we hit 80”.

“I’m not seeing the 50th anniversary as the last tour,” he said on the podcast documentary’s final episode.

“I think it’s a good gauge of where we’re going to go next … we’re going to roll more than we rock and I think we’re going to find a whole new way of doing things. It’s going to open doors for us musically that we want to pursue.

“I see it as a gateway to what we’re going to do until we hit 80.”

Mossy, who was nominated as best on field for his incendiary guitar playing and crystal clear vocals by almost every concertgoer, shares in the episode that everyone in the Chisel camp is still “too keen, too excited to say this is it’s definitely all over”.

He cited Eric Clapton and B.B. King among those who proved there’s no retirement age for musicians.

“As long as your hands are still working and your voice is still working, there’s no reason why (not), that’s the beauty of this,” Mossy said.

“If you’re lucky, fortunate enough to have set yourself up well enough in this business it never has to end.”

Drayton, who has occupied the drum seat since the death of original member Steve Prestwich in 2011, said simply, “I don’t think Cold Chisel is a band that should ever say they’re breaking up.”

A documentary about the 50th anniversary tour is expected to be released in early 2025.

This article was first published by the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.